Nintendo recently announced that the pre-sell program for Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire will be underway at various game outlets this week. The pre-sell program is the precursor to the titles? March 17th release date. As an added bonus, those who preorder will receive a limited edition holographic Pokemon Collector's Coin.

Ruby and Sapphire mark the first appearance of the series on the GameBoy Advance, and as such bring better graphics and some other gameplay tweaks to the table. The ability to play as a male or female trainer, and battle with two Pokemon simultaneously has been added to the mix in order to keep the series evolving. And, what would a Pokemon game be without the creatures themselves? Nintendo states that 100 new Pokemon have been added to the mix, making the 'gotta catch 'em all' task that much more challenging.

Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire have sold nearly 4 million copies in Japan to date. Nintendo expects similar numbers here in the States.